Xavier Barbaro

About Xavier Barbaro

Xavier Barbaro is one of the most prominent French executives in the renewable energy sector. He is currently the Group CEO of Neoen, the company he founded in 2008 after holding operational roles in telecommunications, commodities and energy. According to Neoen’s official company profile, his career began in 2001 at Louis Dreyfus Communication (LDCom) in Paris. He then joined Louis Dreyfus Commodities in Geneva as an attaché to the CEO, where he worked on the business plan and on several projects in Asia, before moving to Direct Énergie in 2007 as Director of Business Development. Barbaro holds degrees from École Polytechnique and École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, and he also earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. That combination of engineering training and business education has shaped a leadership style rooted in strategy, execution and industrial scale-up. Through Neoen, he has helped build one of the leading independent renewable power producers, active in solar, wind and battery storage. Neoen highlights major milestones under his leadership, including the commissioning of Cestas, which was the largest solar farm in Europe at the time, the development of Hornsdale Wind Farm in Australia, and the company’s expansion into large-scale storage assets, including major battery projects in France. From a governance perspective, Barbaro remains central to Neoen’s strategic direction. The company also lists him as President of Cartusia S.A.S. and as a director of BRHL UK Holdings Ltd and BRHL UK Midco Ltd. Following Brookfield’s successful acquisition of Neoen in 2025, he has remained a key continuity figure for the group. His track record reflects deep expertise in corporate leadership, project development, capital-intensive infrastructure, international expansion and value creation in a regulated, fast-evolving energy market.